You do seem to have a nice surprise there :) I couldn't say why...if these are i. ensata, they shouldn't really germinate any differently than other iris and not in their pod - before a warm moist, cold moist, followed by warm moist sowing! Your seeds are germinating and need to be sown. Don't completely cover those newly emerging green shoots, and if you can't tell which end is up on all of them, laying them on their sides for them to find their own way is safe. You'll need to keep your flat moist (not soggy) so depending on your own local weather, you'll have to decide whether carport or in the open. I can't tell you which iris from your foliage picture but if you posted it on the Name that Plant forum, someone there might be able to. And congratulations on your seedlings! Here is a link that might be useful:

I did a Google search for Irises & Roses and Gardenweb. Found it on the first hit. As for the camera. Okay let me just say that I'm terrible with technology. I can use my computer at work because I've got the best tech support in the world, but I'm intimidated by the fancier cell phones, blackberries, etc. I didn't open my digital camera until a full year after it was given to me for Christmas. I used it while on vacation two weeks ago but haven't tried to download the images to my computer. The instruction manual alone is as thick as my thumb. Why is it necessary to have to take a class in order to use a fricken camera? Of course my partner says I'm terrible with anything outside of my normal routine. I've got an Irish Lap Harp (another X-Mas gift) that has been sitting in its case along with the instruction book and cd for three years. I even bought an electronic tuner - not that I know how to use it. The reason I like gardening is because the technology doesn't keep changing every time I blink. Okay, you have to stay on top of the latest chemicals and creative watering techniques, but the rest is a pretty static skill. And I don't follow landscape fads. Just my two cents worth, Patrick

mmqchdygg, I am recently disabled. My spine is broken at three places (not repairable by surgery due to a prior surgery gone bad) and I have numerous other nerve disturbances and degenerative processes going on in my body because of that. I can no longer stand, or walk very well, or for very long. Getting down on my hands and knees and bending over is completely out of the question. Kinda hard to garden if one can't do any of those things, wouldn't you say? My gardening friends here, are just trying to help me find ways to continue doing what I love to do. I would consider the planting pole a "tool" not a gadget and I think it would be great tool for anyone who suffers from back pain if they bend over too much or have bad knees or trouble getting off the ground etc. It works readily from a standing or sitting position. You just have to make it to the proper length that will work for you. Yesterday, equipped with my new planting pole, so beautifully created by you wonderful Cottage Gardeners, I was able to plant more than 300 Hollyhock seeds. There is a little trick to using it, I found. It took me a bit to figure it out though. Finally I realized that if you stick the attached stick in the ground at an angle vs straight down, with the pole lying directly above the stick, rather than pulling the wooden stick completely up and out of the hole and then fiddling to line the pole back up over the hole, you can instead pull the stick partially out of the hole (because it went in at an angle). Automatically the pole is lined up over the hole. You can now drop your seed down the pole and it acts like a chute sending the seed straight into the hole. One warning, don't push the stick into the earth so far that you plug the pole with dirt! It is a little bit tricky to get it up in the air so you can clean out the hole without spilling all your seed out of the yogurt cup that is up at the top by your funnel, LOL! Otherwise...You are in bussiness!! With many many thanks to all of you, I'm gardening again! I can't tell you what it means to me. MeMo

I must admit- I came home with more than I had planned to..... But less than what I came with! I still have many hours of home-work looking up information and germination requirements... I thought I was doing well with the two portable file containers I bought to store seeds in this year- one for swapping and one for sowing- but It is a bit of a mess still- shuffeling through all the "d's" for the right digitalis or datura or what ever- and I keep seeing a picture from a post where the gardener had purchased one of those plastic roll-away multi drawer systems. A drawer for sowing, with homemade dividers, all alpha filed- the bit larger drawer for swapping- and the big bottom drawer for seed cleaning, packaging, labeling tools, bubble mailers, postage and germinating info....... All in a single unit that can be easily tucked away when not in use- and organized and tidy when in use! Oh to be so organized!! I swear- every time I pull out the seeds- it is like an explosion throughout the whole area and then some! I do wonder what others do with the seed storage/swapping systems...... I have found a good software sysem for computer filing for seeds and things garden related and what have you- It is called NoteBook from Circus Ponies- It does work well for me- and maybe you too! Julie